National CineMedia (NCM), America's largest cinema advertising network, acquired Fantasy Movie League earlier this year and added FML's team of fantasy experts (who also built the online fantasy sports games for companies like Yahoo, ESPN, Fox and the NFL) to its own roster to help build the company's digital gaming future. With Berry still involved as a consultant and evangelist, NCM has big plans to bring FML to an even larger audience.
A Fantasy Team and Market
For Berry -- universally regarded as one of the leaders in fantasy sports -- the move into movies was a natural one as a former screenwriter himself. "The more people play fantasy sports, the more they're into sports … so the more people who play Fantasy Movie League, the more they're going to be into movies," he said. The market is huge: There has been a 20% rise in fantasy sports over the past five years and over 210 million Americans are self-described movie lovers.1 That's more people identifying themselves as movie fans than as fans of the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB and NASCAR combined! Plus, Fantasy Movie League attracts a younger, more gender-balanced audience than traditional fantasy sports (60% of players are age 35 or under).
Fantasy Movie League aligns perfectly with NCM's mission to be the connector between brands and movie audiences wherever they are, not just inside the theater. Adding the competition of fantasy sports to the popularity of movies adds up to the kind of engaged audiences that NCM's advertising clients are always looking to reach. "We will use the big screen as the trailer for the digital experience, driving audiences from our new Noovie pre-show to NCM's digital properties like Fantasy Movie League and then back to the theater to catch the next big movie," said NCM Chief Digital Officer and Senior Vice President of Corporate Development Lawrence Snapp.
That synergy is magnified by how engaged and loyal fantasy players are, as they seek new ways to connect, interact, learn and compete. "Traditional movie fans feel an attachment to their favorite movies, but fantasy players feel ownership in regard to the movies they pick in their Fantasy Movie League," Snapp explained. "It's much deeper and more personal than the traditional fan experience. Fantasy players have proven to be super-fans because they consume more than three times as much media as an average fan."2 Research has shown that fantasy players are also more brand aware and brand loyal.
Driving Participation Drives Movie Dollars
Fantasy Movie League is free to play at fantasymovieleague.com or by downloading the iOs app so fans can compete from any device. The game had previously been divided into four seasons -- Summer, Fall, Awards and Spring -- but weekly and weekend play has just been added to get new players more quickly and easily involved in the game. Movie releases are assigned a value in FML Bux (FB), the game's virtual currency. Each week, players get $1,000 FB to fill eight screens in their Fantasy Cineplex with the movies they think will generate the highest gross revenue. Just as with other fantasy leagues, players automatically compete in the All Cineplexes League and can also join existing public leagues or create their own public or private league. NCM also plans to start an ad industry league in the coming year!
As Berry says, the game is easy to learn but difficult to master. Players research their picks, engage in chat rooms and social media groups, watch FML videos and listen to FML podcasts, but in this case they also go to the movies and check out the flicks driving box office dollars at their real-life local movieplex. Prizes are based both on performance and random drawings and include everything from T-shirts and movie tickets to great studio-supplied prizes like a lightsaber signed by Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill.
FML has grown dramatically since its launch two years ago, when Berry Tweeted out a call for his followers to Beta test it. Over 100,000 people played in the first year due to word of mouth alone. Coverage by media outlets including The Hollywood Reporter, Huffington Post, IMDB, People.com and The View followed. What began as a grassroots movement among fantasy sports enthusiasts went viral; 70% of users joined because a friend invited them into a league. With NCM's big screen promotional muscle behind it on over 20,500 screens in more than 1,700 movie theaters nationwide in its Noovie pre-show, Fantasy Movie League is poised for significant increases in player counts, league health, community development and engagement depth.
Fantasy Movie League is just one piece of NCM's expanding consumer digital products ecosystem, creating new ways for brands to interact with passionate movie audiences. There's more on the horizon; NCM is currently developing new digital experiences focusing on content, commerce and gaming for movie audiences. That's great news for brands looking to forge deeper connections with NCM's more than 750 million movie-going consumers across the U.S.
1Source: 2016 Doublebase GfK MRI, base = A18+, Fan = Super or Average